Pedestrian, cyclist, transit user, motorist.

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I’ve been heavily involved in TriTAG‘s efforts to assist voters in making informed choices this election. If you live in Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot, or Woolwich, you’ll want to check out the following resources:

I feel obliged to respond to a letter that tries to associate my name with opposition to light rail, a project I publicly endorse.

Anyone who took the time to actually read the article in last week’s Record would know that the proposed work on Weber near our home is part of routine maintenance of the road and waterworks, and is unrelated to the light rail project. Our concerns are that the proposed plan would needlessly and permanently destroy mature trees and greenery on our street to satisfy flawed and outdated traffic practices that favour cars over people.

Have light rail opponents become so desperate for public attention that they now try to blame road maintenance projects blocks away on the ION?

A reader would also note that we think the Region should take the opportunity as part of this project to make it easier to cross Weber, so that our family and our neighbours might have easier access to the ION when it is complete.

My family will proudly celebrate this Thursday’s ION groundbreaking, because we know that light rail will make it easier for us to get around, without having to widen roads and ruin streetscapes.

Transit use is on the rise in Waterloo Region. Service improvements, slowly being rolled out by GRT, are making transit a more viable choice for many people. Ridership has doubled since 2001 when the Region took over transit from the cities. The ridership growth has outpaced population growth by a factor of five.

What’s more, the growth in transit use appears to be a sustained demographic trend, as a new generation is starting to make different transportation choices than their parents. While some might dismiss the high ridership numbers of young people as something that will change as they age and begin to earn more money, the trends suggest that this isn’t the case. 25-34 year olds from 2001 are now all in the 35-44 bracket, and are more likely now to use transit than a decade ago.

Above is a ‘walkshed’ map of potential future rapid and express transit services in Waterloo Region. A walkshed is the area that is accessible by walking a certain distance to or from some point of interest, in this case, transit stops.

I’ve slowly started to migrate a few of my small code tinkering projects onto Github. These two projects both involve the handling of transit service Open Data.

future-gtfs: Tool for augmenting GTFS datasets with potential future transit routes and service frequencies. I’m using it to create data needed to help demonstrate the benefits of Waterloo’s future Rapid Transit service through something like OpenTripPlanner.

In the past few years, the cities of Waterloo and Kitchener have implemented what was then called road diets. (Road ‘right-sizing’ is a better term used today.) Waterloo converted Davenport Road from 4 lanes to 2 with bike lanes and a median a few years back to great fanfare. Last fall, Kitchener narrowed the expansive 2 lanes on Margaret to provide marked parking areas and bike lanes, as part of one the City’s 5 cycling priorities planned for 2012.

It’s Saturday morning, but you’re stuck in traffic. You’re on your way to the Kitchener Market, and the cars on King Street are inching forward slower than rush hour. You grit your teeth as the bus you’ve been creeping behind lurches and stops to let off a few impatient passengers. They’ve been waiting to move as long as you have, and they scurry to the corner to cross, dodging turning vehicles. You finally make the turn onto Cedar and find the parking lot full, again. Frustrated, you loop the nearby neighbourhood a few times, finally snatching a parking spot. A good part of your morning wasted already, you hurriedly pick up your eggs, meat, and a few veggies, and head back to your car as quickly as you can, just to face the traffic all over again.

Fast-forward fifteen years from now. King Street is still busy, and the parking lot is full, but that no longer bothers you. You find your ride in a light rail vehicle relaxing as you glide to a stop at Cedar and Charles. A wide promenade to lead you to the market awaits, lined with shops and cafes. The street has been closed to traffic today, and vendors have set up tables here outside the market to keep pace with demand. You catch the eye of a friend – she’s just come downstairs from the flat she recently moved into on Cedar Street – and she invites you to join her at the little cafe below her new place. You grab some patio chairs and chat for a while before parting ways to browse the many shops and vendors. Arms loaded with food, you head back to Charles Street. As the train approaches, you remember you’ve forgotten the cheese! No worries, another train will come again in just a few minutes.

A draft of the central transit corridor community building strategy is being presented for public input this month.

I was privileged to participate as a citizen in workshops for the community building strategy in the spring and am impressed with the work that has gone into it.

The vision for the community transformation that will accompany rapid transit being presented in the draft strategy is both breathtaking and well within our grasp.

This future of better transit, roads, paths, and intensification is what will keep me and my family rooted and working in Waterloo Region.

Which is why I’m alarmed that a small minority who oppose rapid transit in the region has grown increasingly noisy as of late.

If this is allowed to continue unanswered, I fear regional council may forget the groundswell of support in 2011 for rapid transit, and this future may be lost, extinguished by those whose vision is too narrow to look beyond the status quo.

I would encourage everyone to attend the community building strategy public consultations, or visit the website at centraltransitcorridor.ca.

Catch the vision, contribute to it, and speak up once again for a better future.

Since the beginnings of civilization, people have been building and walking on roads. Walking on public streets was once a safe and normal activity, but since the introduction of the automobile, pedestrians have been displaced. This has come as a concerted effort to shift the blame for collisions away from car operators: industry and drivers’ associations have successfully convinced society of the invented notion of ‘jaywalking’, vilifying what was once an everyday stroll down the street.

Today, even as the public and governments begin to once again recognize the social, economic, and environmental value of active transportation, we continue to fall under the illusion that people must yield to the ‘needs’ of cars. As pedestrians continue to be hurt and killed by cars, police and radio ads implicitly blame victims with reminders to “wear bright clothing” because somehow choosing to walk helps contribute to a “dangerous combination.” This is absurd and diverts our attention away from the real source of the danger.

The truth is that most of the time, if a motorist “didn’t see” a pedestrian, they have failed to operate with the level of caution and care warranted by the weight and speed of their vehicle and the conditions of the road. It’s why driving is a licensed and regulated activity, while walking is not. Let’s remember to watch vigilantly for pedestrians the next time each of us gets behind the wheel.